Quotes About Responsibility

A beggar's mistake harms no one but the beggar. A king's mistake, however, harms everyone but the king. Too often, the measure of power lies not in the number who obey your will, but in the number who suffer your stupidity.

Power, she had come to realize, had the insidious habit of inserting others between you and your tasks, rendering your limbs little more than decorative mementoes of a more human past.

There can be no good character in civil government if there is none in the people. You cannot make a good omelet with bad eggs.

So Miss Curdy said I had to be punished. She gave me a choice of punishments. One: I could come into the gym after school every day and inflate all the basketballs — by mouth — until my head exploded. Or two: I could coach the first-grade soccer team. I chose number two. The wrong choice.

Are you ready to present your book reports?" Miss Shindling asked. The classroom erupted with sounds—chairs scraping, Trapper-Keepers being opened, papers being rustled, throats being cleared.

My friend Chuck was supposed to help me coach the team. But he told Miss Curdy he had an after-school job. Do you know what his after-school job is? Going home and watching TV. - Steve Boswell

Did he just say--? Yes, Claire said, smiling. Yes, he did. Whoa. Guess I'd better stay alive, then.

Parents had some kind of sin radar, Claire thought. They always called when you were in the middle of something you just knew they'd consider wrong. Or at least risky.

Marriage is a big word for all guys," Shane said. "You know that. It's kind of an allergy. We get itchy and sweaty just trying to spell it, much less do it.

Your father's an asshole. It's not a disease. You don't have to catch it.

He let Shane drop back down in his chair, and walked out, back stiff. Furious. Shane sat with his hands clutching at the armrests. He exchanged a stunned look with Eve, and they both stood up at once. No, Shane said. I did it. Let me fix it. He went off after Michael. Eve chewed her lip and said, Well, we're either going to see half the house destroyed, or their bromance is going to go all the way.

Myrnin, drive carefully. Understand? Of course. He didn't.

I am sorry my decisions do not meet with your approval, but nevertheless, they are mine, and the consequences are also mine.

Hey, Mikey? You get her hurt and I'll end you. You let anything happen to Eve and I'll do the same, Michael said. He'd just finished kissing Eve, too. While you're at it, don't get yourself killed, either, bro. Ditto. And don't kiss me.

Mom and Dad had a lot to answer for, she decided. She couldn't even be rude to evil vampires who'd caged her boyfriend and were preparing to roast him alive.

Yeah, and by the way? How much does it suck that I'm an adult if I kill somebody, and not if I want a beer?

I never meant it, he was saying. Never meant it to happen. Can't stand it, seeing her suffer. Must do something, do something... What do I do? What can I do...?

Losing one pint of blood's an accident. Losing two is carelessness.

Okay, that really shouldn't have happened. And we're not going to talk about that, right? Ever?" "Right," she said. She felt like there was light dripping from her fingertips. Spilling out of her toes. She felt full of light, in fact, warm buttery sunlight. "Never happened." He opened his mouth, then closed it, and closed his eyes. "Claire—" "I know." "Lock the door," he said.

You know what I mean. And by the way, you should slow down." I sighed. "You're kidding me. This is coasting. This is little old lady speed." "NASCAR drivers would have heart attacks. Slow down before we get a ticket." "Chicken.

It's part of the marriage vows. Didn't you read the fine print? To have and to harass.

Hell, I can't hit a girl. Here, Claire. You hit her.

Human nature was all about shifting blame...and responsibility. How else could you explain concentration camps and genocide and all the awful things people did to each other every day? They just carried on life and pretended like the evil didn't exist, as long as it was happening out of their direct view.

It's the hardest lesson for someone who's been taught guns are the answer . . . that they're only the answer to a pure, simple, direct set of problems: killing someone. I